{"id":96837,"date":"2017-04-04T21:13:16","date_gmt":"2017-04-05T01:13:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=96837"},"modified":"2017-04-04T21:13:16","modified_gmt":"2017-04-05T01:13:16","slug":"president-duterte-assures-soldiers-of-his-support-during-armys-120th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/04\/04\/president-duterte-assures-soldiers-of-his-support-during-armys-120th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"President Duterte assures soldiers of his support during Army’s 120th Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\u201cSince<\/a>
\u201cSince the establishment of the Philippine Army 120 years ago, our history is replete with tales of our soldiers\u2019 great sacrifices and significant victories to best protect our people and our national sovereignty,\u201d the President said in his speech at the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio on Tuesday, April 4. (Photo: REY BANIQUET\/Presidential Photo<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2013President Rodrigo Duterte commended the members of the Philippine Army for their sacrifices to the country during their 120th anniversary celebration as he promised them continuous support to effectively do their jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the establishment of the Philippine Army 120 years ago, our history is replete with tales of our soldiers\u2019 great sacrifices and significant victories to best protect our people and our national sovereignty,\u201d the President said in his speech at the Philippine Army headquarters in Fort Bonifacio on Tuesday, April 4.<\/p>\n

In line with the government\u2019s modernization program on the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), the present leadership has been providing telecommunication apparatus, firepower and infantry fighting vehicles to the Army, the President said.<\/p>\n

The administration allocated almost PHP6.5 billion for Philippine Army projects under the Revised AFP Modernization Plan to procure individual equipment such as rifles, pistols, grenade launchers and force protection armors.<\/p>\n

The President noted that he signed an Executive Order last September increasing the combat pay of soldiers from PHP500 to PHP3,000 per month and their combat incentive pay from PHP150 to PHP300 a day.<\/p>\n

Also, the Department of Budget and Management is also working on the proposed compensation adjustment to increase the base and hazard pays of military personnel, President Duterte said.<\/p>\n

He said the GSIS will also study the possibility of having a housing loan program that will complement the soldier\u2019s ability to pay, noting that soldiers are more confident to perform their mandate if their loved ones are well-sheltered.<\/p>\n

He also called on the Philippine Army and all branches of the military to continue helping the administration\u2019s drive against illegal drugs.<\/p>\n

At the same time, the President asked the members of the military to forego the houses intended for them in Bulacan, stressing that his government will build new homes in another location.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am asking you kung maaari lang. Do not be offended. Take it with an open mind. Ako na mismo, inyong Presidente, nakikiusap sa inyo. Let us not wage a fight against our own people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTutal mahirap lang \u2018yan sila, intindihin na lang ninyo. And I will build another housing project for you soonest and I intend to complete it by December,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He warned the members of Kadamay not to create trouble in the housing sites they occupied and avoid harassing the soldiers and policemen who are already residing there.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo not create trouble, avoid chaos, and we will try to solve what ails this country,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2013President Rodrigo Duterte commended the members of the Philippine Army for their sacrifices to the country during their 120th anniversary …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":96840,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[17493,13135,2172],"class_list":["post-96837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-120th-anniversary","tag-president-rodrigo-duterte","tag-soldiers","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}